Surat (Gujarat) : Contrary to the belief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Patidar factor has failed to work in the Gujarat Elections 2022. The prominent Patidar faces from AAP had to taste bitter defeats against the BJP in the Patidar-dominated seats in Surat.
Former Patidar reservation leader, Alpesh Kathiriya had to taste a bitter defeat against BJP’s heavyweight Patidar leader and sitting MLA Kishore Kanani alias Kumar Kanani. Kanani defeated Kathiriya with over 16,000 votes.
Similarly, Gujarat AAP’s chief Gopal Italia, who is considered as a prominent figure in the Patidar community, lost with a huge tally against sitting BJP MLA and Gujarat’s Urban Development minister Vinu Moradiya. Moradiya won with a huge victory magin of over 61,000 votes.
AAP’s convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had claimed that the party will be winning at least 7 seats in Surat district during his election campaigning in Surat. Kejriwal stated that AAP has emerged as the main contender, replacing Congress, against the BJP in the Gujarat elections.
On the counting day, AAP candidates in the Patidar belt in Surat put up a strong contest against the BJP, but failed to gain big in the end. Except for Varachha, the BJP candidates in all other Patidar-dominated seats won with the margin of more than 50,000 votes.
Sources said that the female voters have played a very big role in all the Patidar-dominated seats in Surat. While about 70 percent of the young voters in the age group of 21-30 years remained with AAP, the female voters went all out to vote for the BJP. Similarly, the Patidar voters above 30 years, too have voted in favour of the BJP.
AS predicted by the diamond associations, there was no impact of the resentment of diamond workers on the elections. The Diamond Workers’ Union Gujarat (DWUG) appealed the diamond workers to vote for the parties that promise to resolve the issues such as implementation of labour laws, abolition of professional tax, relief package for the diamond workers etc. However, the Patidar diamond workers seems to have stood with the BJP.
Also, the last election rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Patidar-dominated Abrama in Mota Varachha played a key role in swining the Patidar votes to BJP.
